As we reported in January, the fund spent a staggering $894 million on investment-banking fees in 2018, securing financial advice on deals and procuring an array of bonds, loans, and equity investments.

That’s not just the highest total for any company last year, but the highest in at least the past decade.

It doesn’t seem like SoftBank is showing any signs of slowing down. This week, it led a $440 million round in the UK fintech OakNorth, making it one of Europe’s most highly valued companies.

I’ve talked to several Silicon Valley lawyers and investors who are worried about a lack of discipline in SoftBank’s spending spree, e.g. writing checks for hundreds of millions to companies that simply don’t need the money (a commonly cited example is the dog walking app Wag, which raised $300 million from the fund last year). There’s also concern about freewheeling spending from companies that receive SoftBank cash. One tech adviser pointed me to a client who he said had received an investment from SoftBank and then proceeded to spend a big chunk of it on a Super Bowl ad.

As the Vision Fund continues to disrupt the venture landscape and shape the world’s most valuable companies, I think it’s going to be one of the most important business stories of the next five years. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please reach out to me at ooran@businessinsider.com anytime.

Have a good weekend!

– Olivia

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Hedge funds are spending billions to get an edge through access to satellite images and credit-card transactions. Now they fear a crackdown’s coming.

One hedge-fund manager didn’t invest much in oil, but a data company’s unusual pitch caught his eye.

The firm said it could pinpoint which oil rigs in Texas were operating in real time, information that could be used, for a price, to make better bets on the commodity. How did the company acquire this type of potentially extremely lucrative data? It paid a guy $50 to drive around and stick sensors on oil rigs.

The hedge-fund manager, who declined to be named, said he immediately passed.

It also set up a venture-capital fund to take stakes, though the firm declined to provide more details. Already an investor in six companies, it plans to make as many as a dozen more investments this year.

“We’re at that Cambrian moment,” said Joe Gerber, one of two managing directors at Ideo’s CoLab project. “The foundational elements of the internet are being rewritten.”

For years, most hedge funds charged investors a flat rate of 2%, known as a management fee, as well as a 20% performance fee — known as the “2-and-20 model.” Hedge-fund fees are typically higher than those at other types of investment funds, based on the promise they’ll make money even if the market is down.

Greycroft, which was founded by VC pioneer Alan Patricof and has backed buzzy consumer startups such as Thrive Market, Bird, TheRealReal, and Venmo, is seeking exposure to what’s set to be a huge market. The Brightfield Group, a cannabis-industry research firm, estimates the hemp-based CBD market will skyrocket to $22 billion by 2022 in the US alone.

While some mainstream VCs have invested in both CBD and cannabis-tech companies, Lerer Hippeau included, the Prima investment marks the first time Greycroft has actively put money into the sector.